Reflections on Soft International Law in a Privatized World

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Reflections on Soft International Law in a Privatized WorldJan Klabbers1In Jack Reacher, British-born crime novelist Lee Child has truly created a hero for the postmodern,globalized world. Reacher (make no mistake: no one calls him Jack) is the son of a USarmy officer and a French mother (both deceased) and grew up on army bases all over the world. He lives alone, without relatives or significant other: his only brother is dead, and the one-timemore or less steady if reluctant girlfriend has gone to live on a different continent. Reacherhimself lives, literally, everywhere and nowhere throughout the United States: he has no place hecalls home, no fixed address; all he has is a bank account, which he can access through WesternUnion and where his military pension (he was honorably discharged following the end of theCold War) is deposited. He travels all the time, hitchhiking or by bus, and he travels light,without any possessions other than a tooth brush: he buys his clothes in cheap second-handstores, and wears them until they can no longer be worn, at which point he discards them andbuys something else, without bothering about style, fashion or other late-modern anxieties. Andwhen embroiled in a fight (which, befitting a crime novel hero, happens on occasion), he doesnot care too much about the law; instead, he cares predominantly about his own sense of rightand wrong, of whom to trust and whom to mistrust, of what to do and what not to do. To be sure,the law is a factor in all this, but not the only one, and possibly not even the most important one:Reacher is virtuous (in the sense in which someone like Machiavelli would have used the term)and has a well-developed sense of morality, but is not necessarily law-abiding. Reacher then is the perfect hero for today’s globalized world: he is, quite literally, deterritorializedand, in a deep sense, individualist, having no permanent ties to anyone or anythingin the world: no lasting personal relations, no lasting professional relations. Whatever authorityhe represents is the authority of virtue and force (pretty much in this order), vaguely straddlingthe line between public and private: a former soldier, but not quite a private mercenary or bountyhunter. All he wants is to be left alone and follow his interests; but then there is always a damselin distress, an old buddy in need, or occasionally a government branch desperate for his services,and so a new adventure commences.